ASM International launches A400(TM) Duo vertical furnace system with dual reactor chambers

New system addresses 200mm applications with high productivity and low cost of ownership

Munich - ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM LINK) today introduced the A400™ DUO vertical furnace system with dual reactor chambers for wafer sizes of 200mm and smaller. The system’s DUAL Boat reactors produce high throughput, increasing reactor utilization to a very high percentage, while ensuring low capex.

“The new A400™ DUO reactor ensures that ASM will extend its position as a leader in the market for Power, Analog, RF, and MEMS applications,” said Hichem M’Saad, ASM Executive Vice President, Global Products. “As 200mm manufacturing began its renaissance, driven by growth in for instance IoT devices, it became clear that our existing furnace technology could still achieve industry-leading results. Combining our technology with the latest innovations in robotics and controls has significantly enhanced the system’s manufacturing capabilities to meet today’s production targets.”

The new DUO is compatible with the original A400™, so existing process recipes can be easily transferred, accelerating system ramp. The system has secured production qualification from multiple customers in Europe, the United States and Asia, including several leaders in power, RF, and MEMS device manufacturing. To date over 20 reactors have been shipped, with a healthy outlook for further shipments.

ASM’s original A400™ vertical furnace system has a proven track record of more than 1000 reactors shipped to customers worldwide and over 25 years of maturity in semiconductor manufacturing. The new system has been modernized to support a variety of growing markets including silicon power, wide band gap semiconductor power, analog, RF and MEMS devices. With its updated control system, software with an intuitive graphical user interface, predictive maintenance by advanced control diagnostics, new robot, and plug-and-play installation, customers can count on the A400™ DUO delivering increased reliability with production output that achieves better repeatability, productivity, and time utilization.

Like its predecessor, the A400™ DUO offers a comprehensive portfolio of process applications including low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) processes like doped silicon and silicon nitride films, diffusion processes such as wet oxidation and anneal processes.

Gelest Inc. recruits Jim Whitlock as COO

Gelest Inc, which is backed by New Mountain Capital, has named Jim Whitlock as chief operations officer. Previously, he worked at Honeywell where he was vice president of integrated supply chain for their performance materials and technology business group. Morrisville, Pennsylvania-based Gelest is a maker of supplier of silicones, organosilanes and metal-organics for advanced technology end markets.

Source: PE Hub Network LINK

Ionbond Equipment Division integrated into IHI Hauzer Techno Coating

Ionbond is pleased to announce the sale of its equipment division to fellow IHI Group company Hauzer Techno Coating.

Under Hauzer, which produces physical vapor deposition (PVD) equipment for the tribological, tool and decorative market, the equipment division will continue as an indpendent company under the name IHI Bernex. IHI Bernex will continue to work closely with the Ionbond group on key projects and developments. 

Maximize strength by expansion
Dave Doerwald, Hauzer CEO: “The Bernex portfolio is an excellent complement to the Hauzer portfolio, allowing the two companies to serve more customers together. We are both equipment manufacturers and speak the same language when it comes to doing business.” Dr. Michael Auger, Bernex CEO, adds: “Bernex is profitable and growing, and we are looking forward to the synergies that will come from working with Hauzer. Both companies have a lot to offer.”

The integration of the Ionbond equipment division into Hauzer is in line with the aim of the IHI Group to maximize synergies by aligning equipment production activities. “  Bernex will be an independent company within the Hauzer group, with the same people and the same business location in Olten, Switzerland. 

 

Leader in CVD Solutions
Bernex CVD systems set the industry standard in CVD enhancement of wear, friction and temperature protection of tools and components. Bernex machines are renowned for their reliability and have proven themselves in hundreds of installations worldwide. The company has over 45 years of experience with developing technology, equipment and recipes for CVD coatings. Auger: “CVD is in our DNA. We have expanded CVD technology to include CVA (for aluminum coatings) and CVI (for coating the internal surfaces of porous materials such as carbon fiber bodies). Our expertise in developing proprietary coatings for specific customer applications sets Bernex apart in the field.”

Bernex Expanding Production Capacity
Bernex engineering and manufacturing will remain in Olten, where it is expanding its production capacity. The Bernex Service Center Asia will remain in Kunshan, China.

For more information, see the new Bernex website: ihi-bernex.com

Versum Materials report 1,000 CHEMGUARD® GEN III Systems sold

[Versum Materials Newsletter, LINK] An important milestone for the Versum Materials DS&S was realized recently with the sale and commissioning of the onethousandth (1,000) CHEMGUARD® Gen III high-purity, liquid delivery system since its introduction in 2016. The 1,000-plus units are now running in the latest high-volume semiconductor fabs globally with more than 200 molecules now approved for delivery. Built on a legacy of more than 30 years of supplying advanced materials and delivery systems to the worldwide semiconductor and electronics industries, Versum Material’s DS&S team continues to design and build safer, more reliable delivery equipment for high-purity gas and liquid distribution.

 

 

CHEMGUARD 500 is specifically designed for very low vapor pressure precursors. The patented, automa􀆟c solvent purge ensures molecule purity on some of the lowest vapor pressure molecules used in semiconductor manufacturing. A small sample of the molecules approved in a CG500 are: TDMAT, TDEAT, TAETO, TBTDET, TDEAH, TEMAH, TEMAHf, TEMAZr and TPOSL. (From the CHEMGUARD GEN III 500 DATA SHEET)

“The CHEMGUARD Gen III system has been very well received by Versum Materials major customers, especially with its built-in redundancies,” said Jeff Chung, DS&S Asia Sales Manager.

BluGlass enters collaboration with global equipment leader, AIXTRON SE

Australian technology innovator, BluGlass Limited (ASX: BLG) has today announced that it will collaborate with global semiconductor equipment leader, AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA), to evaluate BluGlass’ unique remote plasma chemical vapour deposition (RPCVD) technology.

BluGlass has selected the AIX 2800G4-HT system for the scaling of RPCVD to mass production capacities. AIXTRON’s Planetary Reactor® delivers class leading semiconductor film uniformity due to its proprietary dual axis of wafer rotation during deposition. RPCVD technology enables low temperature deposition of III-V nitrides which could potentially improve the performance of devices. The first integration of RPCVD onto the AIX 2800G4-HT will be conducted at BluGlass’ Silverwater facility in Sydney, Australia.

BluGlass’ Managing Director Giles Bourne said today, “We are very pleased to have the support from AIXTRON for this major scaling project of our technology. This is an important step towards demonstrating the commercial viability of RPCVD in large scale manufacturing.”

AIXTRON’s Group Innovation Officer, Dr Ken Teo, adds, “At AIXTRON, we are constantly striving to bring novel technologies onto our platforms in order to provide our customers with advanced capabilities. We want to explore the potential of RPCVD technology for low temperature deposition of nitride layers which may open up new possibilities for opto/electronic devices; we look forward to working with BluGlass in integrating RPCVD and evaluating the technology”.

 

Source: BlueGlass LINK

Applied Materials enables cobalt contact & interconnect for 7nm with pre-clean, PVD, ALD and CVD – on the Endura® platform

At IEDM 2017 in December both Intel and Globalfoundries presented cobalt encapsulation (liner and cap) for copper local interconnects as well as Co fill contacts for their 10nm resp 7nm technologies. Since then many have wondered about the unit process details behind the new cobalt integration and here we have it - The Applied Materials complete cobalt solution as announced yesterday. Especially interesting that TiN ALD also is used as a cobalt seed/adhesio/dufusion barrier for cobalt contacts. The most interesting stuff you will finde here: LINK

[SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 05, 2018]  Applied Materials, Inc. today announced a breakthrough in materials engineering that accelerates chip performance in the big data and AI era.

In the past, classic Moore’s Law scaling of a small number of easy-to-integrate materials simultaneously improved chip performance, power and area/cost (PPAC). Today, materials such as tungsten and copper are no longer scalable beyond the 10nm foundry node because their electrical performance has reached physical limits for transistor contacts and local interconnects. This has created a major bottleneck in achieving the full performance potential of FinFET transistors. Cobalt removes this bottleneck but also requires a change in process system strategy. As the industry scales structures to extreme dimensions, the materials behave differently and must be systematically engineered at the atomic scale, often under vacuum. 

To enable the use of cobalt as a new conducting material in the transistor contact and interconnect, Applied has combined several materials engineering steps – pre-clean, PVD, ALD and CVD – on the Endura® platform. Moreover, Applied has defined an integrated cobalt suite that includes anneal on the Producer® platform, planarization on the Reflexion® LK Prime CMP platform and e-beam inspection on the PROVision™ platform. Customers can use this proven, Integrated Materials Solution to speed time-to-market and increase chip performance at the 7nm foundry node and beyond. 

“Five years ago, Applied anticipated an inflection in the transistor contact and interconnect, and we began developing an alternative materials solution that could take us beyond the 10nm node,” said Dr. Prabu Raja, senior vice president of Applied’s Semiconductor Products Group. “Applied brought together its experts in chemistry, physics, engineering and data science to explore the broad portfolio of Applied’s technologies and create a breakthrough Integrated Materials Solution for the industry. As we enter the big data and AI era, there will be more of these inflections, and we are excited to be having earlier and deeper collaborations with our customers to accelerate their roadmaps and enable devices we never dreamed possible.”

While challenging to integrate, cobalt brings significant benefits to chips and chip making: lower resistance and variability at small dimensions; improved gapfill at very fine dimensions; and improved reliability. Applied’s integrated cobalt suite is now shipping to foundry/logic customers worldwide.

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) is the leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world. Our expertise in modifying materials at atomic levels and on an industrial scale enables customers to transform possibilities into reality. At Applied Materials, our innovations make possible the technology shaping the future. Learn more at www.appliedmaterials.com.

Versum Materials Celebrates the Grand Opening of Its R&D Facility in Hometown, PA

TEMPE, Ariz. (April 19, 2018) Versum Materials, Inc. (NYSE: VSM), a leading materials supplier to the semiconductor industry, announced today the grand opening of its new research and development (R&D) facility at its semiconductor materials manufacturing site in Hometown, Pennsylvania. The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place April 10, 2018. Versum employees, members of the community, local government, customers and strategic partners attended the event.

The state-of-the-art R&D laboratory is dedicated to new materials used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Scientists in the facility will synthesize and purify new molecules down to parts per billion impurity levels and below using the latest technologies available in the industry. The researchers can assess the applications for these new molecules and scale up the molecules to larger quantities for customer evaluation. These new organometallic compounds will be deposited on semiconductor wafers through cutting-edge technologies to test their performance for semiconductor applications. Additionally, the facility is capable of small-volume manufacturing and advanced analytical and quality assessment.

 

 

State Senator Dave Argall commended Versum for being the region’s third largest employer and for the company’s investments in the local community. Approximately 30 employees, half of which hold advanced degrees in chemistry or chemical engineering, are based in the new facility. The company’s Hometown campus now totals 250 highly-skilled employees.

ASM International N.V. Reports First Quarter 2018 Results

ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) reports its first quarter 2018 operating results (unaudited) in accordance with IFRS. (Almere, The Netherland April 19, 2018 FinanzNachrichten.de LINK)

From the ASMI Q1/2018 investor presentations : LINK

• New orders at €206 million were at the highest level ever and 2% above the Q4 2017 level and 1% above the level of Q1 2017.
• Net sales for the first quarter 2018 were €159 million, a decrease of 12% compared to the restated previous quarter.
• Gross profit margin was 37.8% in Q1 2018. The margin was beside the effects of new product introductions impacted by sales mix and preparation for anticipated higher activity levels.
• Operating result decreased to €12 million compared to the previous quarter. The decrease is mainly the result of the lower sales level.
• Normalized net earnings for the first quarter 2018 decreased by €18 million compared to the fourth quarter 2017.

COMMENT

Commenting on the results, Chuck del Prado, President and Chief Executive Officer of ASM International said:

"In Q1 we realized sales of €159 million and an order intake of €206 million. Our sales were at the lower end of our guidance while order intake was at the higher end of our guidance. The gross margin in Q1 at 38% was impacted by an unfavorable product mix and costs related to our preparation for further growth. We estimate our gross margin in Q2 to show a substantial improvement bringing it back again in the range of low to mid 40's."

ASMI operates in the Deposition segments (e.g. PVD, CVD, ALD) of the semiconductor equipment market (ASMI Q1/2018 investor presentations : LINK)

OUTLOOK

For Q2, on a currency comparable level, we expect sales of €200-230 million, and we expect an order intake of €160-200 million. The broad ranges for Q2 reflect some uncertainty around the exact timing of individual tools.

Gartner estimates the Wafer Fab Equipment market grew 32% in 2017 and forecasts a modest decline in 2018 (ASMI Q1/2018 investor presentations : LINK)

For 2018, market watchers currently expect the wafer fab equipment market to increase with, on average, a high single digit percentage. We aim to outgrow the wafer fab equipment market in 2018. 

Investor presentations : LINK

 More insights can be found by reading the Investor call transcript : LINK (Seeking Alpha)

Plasma-Therm acquires KOBUS and F.A.S.T ALD & CVD hybride technology

KOBUS, an innovative French company based in Grenoble that has brought a new faster ALD-like technology to production level  has been acquired by US Plasma-Therm. The technology is called F.A.S.T, an alternative to ALD where thick and conformal films are required like e.g. TSV and 3D chip integration or MEMS. F.A.S.T. stands for “Fast Atomic Sequential Technology and is enabled by a innovative CVD reactor design combined with fast pulsing capability. KOBUS has focused on solutions for 3D integration challenges, which fits good to the Plasma-Therms etch and PECVD product portfolio. Plasma-Therm also recently acquired the small Swedish plasma etch/dep OEM Advanced Vacuum who target back-end applications and reverse engineering etchers.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (April 4, 2018) — Plasma-Therm today announced that it has acquired KOBUS, an innovative plasma deposition company, which enables F.A.S.T®, a valuable alternative to ALD where thick and conformal films are required.

This unique deposition method is at the crossroads of ALD and CVD: F.A.S.T. stands for “Fast Atomic .Sequential Technology.” F.A.S.T. is enabled by proprietary CVD reactor design combined with pulsing capability, and while capable of depositing in traditional ALD mode, it is optimal for thick and conformal layer deposition and offers new solutions for 3D integration challenges.

Production of the 3rd generation of F.A.S.T. process modules at KOBUS (wwww.kobus-tech.com)

KOBUS offers a unique portfolio of equipment for both mature and advanced materials deposition, which merges well with Plasma-Therm’s operation, expanding the plasma-based deposition and etch suite of products for all silicon and compound semiconductor emerging applications.

This acquisition will allow Plasma-Therm to establish a solid base in Europe and conduct R&D development in the Grenoble “Silicon Valley,” a region fueled with R&D, startups and large semiconductor corporations.

About Plasma-Therm
Plasma-Therm LLC is a manufacturer of leading plasma etch, deposition, and advanced packaging equipment for specialty semiconductor and nanotechnology markets. Plasma-Therm's plasma-processing and advanced-packaging solutions are used in research, pilot manufacturing, and volume production of wireless, photonics, solid state lighting, MEMS/NEMS, data storage and other devices. Learn more at http://www.plasmatherm.com

Applied Materials see high growth for Display business >30% growth

Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) recently reported record revenue and operating profit in its first quarter ended January 28, 2018. Besides beeing the big giant for wafer equipment they are also in the lead for display, for TV as well as smartphone and especially for the lastets size 10.5 Gen.

According the the recent news covered by Seeking Alpha (LINK), Applied Materials is counting on revenue growth from 10.5G LCD plants and from its operations in LTPS backplanes and OLED encapsulation, primarily for the smartphone sector.

In the recent 1Q 2018 earnings call - Gary E. Dickerson - Applied Materials said: "In Display, there are two equally large market inflections driving capital investments: the introduction of Gen 10.5 substrates for TV manufacturing and organic LED displays. In mobile, the transition to OLED displays is compelling. This is because rigid OLED offers significant performance, power and cost advantages over LCD, and flexible OLED will enable new form factors, such as curved and eventually foldable screens. As a result, our positive outlook for 2018 and beyond remains unchanged. Display is a unique growth driver for Applied, and we expect to increase our revenue by more than 30% in 2018 on top of nearly 60% growth last year."

Dickerson further stated:

• year-over-yearoutlook for Display business is greater than 30% growth, and 2019 and beyond also look very strong.
• for mobile versus TV Applied Materials has an about 50/50 mix. In TV, they see increased adoption of larger screens and they are tracking 13 Gen 10.5 projects. As an example if you produce 65-inch TVs with Gen 10.5, you get eight 65-inch TVs per plane and only three with Gen 8.5 and driving the TV business.

Chart above from IHS (thru SeekingAlpha, LINK) shows planned equipment purchases for 10.5G quipment, install dates, and production ramp up.

Applied Materials AKT-PECVD covers the complete range of glass sizes used in the display industry from Gen 2 (0.2m²) all the way up to Gen 10 (9m²). The systems offer processes for both amorphous silicon (a-Si) and metal oxide (MOx) backplane technologies. Available films include both doped and undoped (a-Si), silicon oxide (SiOx), silicon oxynitride (SiON), silicon nitride (SiN), and in-situ multi-layer deposition. (appliedmaterials.com)

According to Seeking Alpha the maine cometitors for current technologies (<10.5 Gen) are :

For the TFT Backplane:

• PECVD companies - AMAT, Jusung Engineering (Korea), and Wonik IPS (Korea)
• PVD companies - AMAT, Avaco (Korea), Iruja (Korea), and Ulvac (Japan)
• Laser Anneal companies – Coherent, AP Systems (Korea), Japan Steel Works (Japan)

For the OLED Encapsulation:

• Jusung Engineering (Korea)
• Wonik IPS (Korea)
• TES (Korea)

These Korean companies all have ALD technologies and equipment for displays. The advantages with ALD are:

• thin films offer better water and oxygen protection
• a thinner film is needed to provide the same protection as thicker PECVD-coated films
• the slower coating process by ALD is compensated by a thinner film